Elita1 to Blackarachnia: Spirited Away

by TyLeeChan

Oneshot: When her parents are turned into pigs in a strange world, Blackarachnia is forced to work at the car wash. But here techno-organics are hated, and her endurance will be tested in unimaginable ways. BlackarachniaxOptimus Parody of Spirited Away

Many MANY UBER THANKS to Consuelo Higdon, the epic person who beta-ed/edited this piece and made it full of epic win and fan-pleasing cameos XD She wrote a majority of the third section and a lot of the others XD She also helped a lot with the idea process and what scenes we were going to write. Without her this would've be as awesome as it is. THANKS AGAIN! This is a parody of the AMAZING movie, Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. I chose Blackarachnia to be Chihiro because, lets face it she already has two names and she is different from normal people. Optimus is Haku. Red Alert is Lin, and well...there are a lot of other characters that I don't feel like listing XD If you've seen the movie you'll know who is who. Well...enjoy! This is REALLY long, possibly the longest oneshot I've ever written, so bear through because it's epic.

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Blackarachnia ran as hard as she could. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening! It was just a dream! Or…or something! She passed by vaguer dark shapes as she raced through the streets. They seemed to be seeping through the ground as they moved. It was like some horror movie come to life.

She had thought this was going to be the worst orbital cycle of her life simply because of the move from the city. Now she knew it would be the worst for completely different reasons.

Why hadn't her parents listened to her? She hadn't wanted to go through that creepy tunnel in the first place. Then, she had asked them – no, begged them - not to eat that strange fuel. She had left them for barely a few cycles. When she returned, they had been changed. They were no longer techno-organics. They were something different. Almost…fully organic. It was gross and disgusting. They barely resembled themselves. And they didn't recognize her. They had hardly given her a glance as they had continued to eat.

But those couldn't really have been her parents, right? It couldn't have been!

Either way, now she was on her own, and she still had no clue where she was. She kept on running, not paying attention to where she was going. It didn't matter. She just had to get away from here. Those shadows were still everywhere. Walking around. Standing in buildings. She screamed as she almost ran into one.

What were they? They looked humanoid, but they couldn't be humans. They were as tall, some even taller, than her. Humans were very small, most of which could fit in her servos. Whatever they were, she didn't want to be anywhere near one.

There were some stairs ahead of her. Yes! She carefully maneuvered down them, making sure her speed would not cause her to trip. For a split second she thought she'd be able to run straight back through the tunnel. But, instead of landing onto another street she found her entire lower body oddly wet.

"Water!?" She cried to nobot in particular as she turned around and sought refuge back on the stairs. She couldn't get anywhere if there was water. She couldn't swim, and being a techno-organic made it impossible to stay under for long. Her spider side couldn't even survive without oxygen. She hated water.

She took a nanoclick to catch her breath and check on her surroundings. The water was from what seemed to be a large river in front of her. A river so big she could barely see the end. But she could see a brilliant display of lights that lit up the night sky. It wasn't a tunnel at all; it was a city. And on the river was a riverboat, decorated in bright lights as well, coming toward the stairs.

It was at this point that Blackarachnia knew she had to be dreaming.

"Wake up, you glitch!" She yelled at herself. She sunk down to her knees while holding her head in her servos, pulling on her helmet for good measure, trying to wake up. She had to wake up. Then her parents would be okay. Then she would be safe. Even though she would have to go to that slagged new place to live, at least she wouldn't be here. Anything was better than here.

She lifted her head, hoping to see that everything was back to normal. Instead, she found it was quite worse.

She could see through her servos.

She lifted them high, making sure it wasn't an illusion. It wasn't. She could see the lights and the river straight through her fingers, like through a purple, slightly foggy window. This couldn't be good at all.

Fear crawled up in her again. She hated feeling scared and vulnerable like this, but she did. What if this wasn't a dream? What if this was real? Then she noticed she was getting thinner. What if she disappeared altogether!? She rubbed herself, trying to make her chassis solid again. She wouldn't let herself disappear!

Then there was a sound. The riverboat had docked, and a ramp had connected it to the stairs. Floating objects that Blackarachnia couldn't define were hovering towards the ramp, though their shadows gave them a humanoid appearance again. But as soon as they stepped onto the stairs, their chassis fleshed out from out of nowhere. Blackarachnia couldn't believe her viz scanners. They looked like…`bots.

That was silly. Real, completely robotic `bots died out a long time ago. Everybot knew that. They had been replaced with techno-organics and a few organic species, such as humans, who were more superior for survival. Now they were just used in folk tales. Myths. Not-true stories. These couldn't be `bots! It was impossible!

Regaining her confidence for a nanoclick, she stared hard at the '`bots'. They must be wearing extra armor or something. She had seen some techno-organics wear more armor on top of them for festivals and plays. There would always be some patch of organic fur or skin showing through at least a little. But as she continued to look, she saw no hint of anything organic about them.

She backed away slowly, the fear increasing as more and more of these '`bots' filed out of the riverboat. They were everywhere, and there was so many of them! She couldn't just stand there and watch anymore. She couldn't just let them step on her. Or worse…step through her! With a yell, she turned and ran, climbing desperately up a small hill next to the stairs. Anything to get away from these things! She tripped once from her lack of coordination, but then regained her balance.

Upon reaching the top, she knew she had to do something. Maybe if she wasn't seen, nobot would notice her. Then they wouldn't eat her or any of the other things they would do in the stories. Quickly, she slunk over to the side of a building, where she would be hidden from their sight. Especially with her chassis getting less and less solid. She took another nanoclick to breathe a bit. Her spark-rate had accelerated majorly, and it felt like it was going to explode. Breathe. Breathe. Calm yourself. But how could she be calm in a situation like this!?

She wanted her parents back. She wanted to feel safe again. She wanted to be solid again. She didn't want to feel alone, scared, and helpless like she was now. Dejected, she crumpled up in the corner of the side of the building and closed her viz scanners. She would almost rather go offline than endure this.

Servos grabbed her shoulders. Her head shot up, and she turned. One of them had found her!

Her fears weren't calmed as she recognized the `bot that grabbed her. It was that weirdo from before who had told her to run. She hadn't noticed that he was a `bot before, because he had appeared so suddenly. But now getting a good look at him, she could see the lack of organic features. He was definitely a `bot. He had a blue and red color scheme, and was only slightly taller than her.

"Don't be afraid." He said, evenly, "I just want to help you."

This didn't really help her at all. Not only was she completely distrustful of any `bots at the moment (mostly because all of the stories she heard included being thrown into a pot and eaten with energon), but the fact that his earlier advice hadn't been any good before made her even more wary of listening to him. Running only got her parents turned into full organics. Running got her in the pathways of techno-organic eating 'bots. Running made her see-through. She squirmed in his grasp.

"No! No! Get away from me!" She cried.

He didn't seem to pay attention to her pleas. "Open your mouth and eat this." In his servo was a small drop of something. Energon, maybe? Whatever it was, she didn't want anything to do with it. She shook her head violently and made sure her mouth was firmly shut. "If you don't eat some food from this world, you'll disappear."

Lies. These had to be lies. They were trying to trick her. She wouldn't fall for it.

"No!!" She shouted, and she thrust her servos at his chestplate, trying to push him away from her. Instead of forcing him back, they merely went through his chassis, like they weren't even there. She gasped, pulling her servo through his faceplate. She quickly drew them back. What did it mean when you got so see-through that your hands went through someone else's chassis?

"Don't worry." He reassured. "It won't turn you into a pig."

This time he threw aside all diplomacy and shoved the drop toward her mouth. She fought back to the best of her ability. But the fact that her struggling only went through him didn't help. In the end, she was forced to eat the slagged thing, and swallow it. It tasted horrible, and it took a lot of effort to keep herself from vomiting it out of her systems before it even went in.

"There you go, you're all better." He smiled. It was a nice smile. "See for yourself." He held out his servo next to hers. Instead of fading through it again, she touched it. It felt warm, which was odd from something that was not organic. She liked it.

"I…I didn't disappear…" She said, almost assuring herself.

"Yes. Now, come with me." He took hold of her servo and lifted her up on her stabilizing servos. Woah there! She may have a little more trust for this `bot now, but she still wasn't ready to do anything he said. She didn't even know him! She still had so many questions. Like why was he somehow so…familiar?

"Wait! Where are my mom and dad!?" She asked. "They…they didn't really turn into…" What did they turn into? Wait…he had called them…"pigs…did they?".

"You can't see them now…but you will." He replied. Wow. Talk about vague answers. The `bot didn't even give her a clue as to where they were! Blackarachnia was about to give him a piece of her mind when he turned suddenly. She followed his gaze, but as soon as she was about to see what he was looking at, he pushed her against the wall, shielding her with his chassis. "Don't move!" He ordered.

She doubted with his weight that she would be able to.

Something was flying through the sky. It looked like a bird, but it was definitely a robot. It circled high above the buildings, searching the grounds. The `bot held her closer as it looked in their direction. He was heavy, and it almost crushed her. Even so, she tried her best to be as still as possible. The bird had red highlights, and two knob-things from underneath its wings. What would happen if they were seen? Finally, the bird-thing flew off, obviously not finding what it was looking for. The `bot stepped back, lifting his weight a bit. He was still tense, which Blackarachnia knew meant he was still on guard. She wanted so bad to ask him what that bird was doing…

"That bird is looking for you." He informed. "You've gotta get out of here."

Okay. That was creepy.

He grabbed onto her servo again, and suddenly pulled her forward. He was running at speeds unimaginable for her, and it took a lot of effort to keep up. Why was the bird looking for her? What would it do when it found her? They maneuvered through the city, going into buildings and crossing out.

It was almost dizzying, passing through the whole city this fast. At one point they were in a shed-like structure, filled to the brim with pigs. Her viz scanners widened as they passed. What if her parents were there?

She didn't have time to find out. They were in and out in a matter of nanoclicks. She took a mournful look back as the shed grew smaller from the distance behind her. It shrunk so quickly…

Finally, the `bot slowed down. That was good too, because she thought her lungs were going to explode. Breathing heavily, she looked at where they had stopped. They were at a bridge, where many `bot were crossing. He began to walk towards it, and she knew she should follow. Unconsciously, she wrapped her servo around his, making sure he wouldn't leave her. It was a slightly presumptuous motion, but she doubted he would notice here.

"I'm scared." She admitted. He continued to stare forward.

"Stay calm." He instructed. His voice comforted her, and she nodded.

As they reached the start of the bridge, several small `bots were posted as guards of some sort, welcoming everybot as they entered. One was red with blue-ish gray around him, another one was green with black, while yet another was a dull, grey-ish yellow. They all looked almost exactly the same, save for some minor differences in body type and head.

"Welcome back, Mister Optimus." The red one shouted as he passed. So that was his name. Optimus. It sounded…sort of familiar. Blackarachnia decided it wasn't the time to question him about it though.

"Take a deep breath." He instructed again. She did so, "Hold it."

They stepped onto the first leg of the bridge. She clamped a servo over her mouth, praying she would be able to hold it like he said. He knew she was partially organic, right? She couldn't survive without breathing! But he surely had a plan. He acted so calm, he had to know what he was doing.

They passed by many `bots as they crossed. They were all different shapes and sizes. There was one with a pink face and a magenta-red body. Another one looked weird, with hollow wheels for feet and really big shoulders on top of him, plus a weird mandible on his head. And one, which looked particularly frightening, resembled an extinct organic: A Tyrannosaurus Rex. It wasn't crossing with the rest, but merely stood in the middle of the bridge, as if it had nothing better to do.

The end was in sight. But Blackarachnia knew she wouldn't be able to hold it in much longer. Her lungs burned, and her processor screamed for her to just take one breath. But she couldn't. It was getting harder to keep her servo over her mouth. She started to see spots.

"Hold on. We're almost there." Optimus said. She nodded and tried to find the strength to make it through. Did you breathe while you were passed out?

Suddenly, a little yellow `bot came running up from the end of the bridge. He was ten times brighter than the one she saw earlier, though she could barely tell with her vision almost out. He was bursting with energy as he reached the two of them. He ignored her and went straight to Optimus. Did that mean he couldn't see her?

"Mister Optimus, where have you been?" He asked.

Blackarachnia couldn't take it anymore. The combined results of her aching chassis and the surprise from the `bot caused her to let go and breathe in. She knew she had failed as soon as she did so, and she tried to make it right by holding her breath again.

The yellow `bot looked up at her as if she hadn't been there the whole time. She felt her viz scanners waver as his grew and he shouted at the top of his lungs. "A techno-organic!?"

Optimus growled and lifted his servo. He configured it into what Blackarachnia recognized as an EMP generator, and hit the `bot point blank. He staggered backwards and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Come on!" Optimus shouted, tugging at her to run again. Everything she saw was nothing but a blur, as they passed through more `bots and he pushed her into a small door, staying behind to make sure nobot followed them. She felt herself in a small space and crawled until she came out at a small yard behind a building. Once Optimus had come in as well, he led her over to a side, where the `bots in the building couldn't see her. She could hear them scrambling inside. They were calling out Optimus's name, along with 'techno-organic'. They knew she was here. She didn't hold her breath. Now what?

"I'm sorry…" She said.

"No, Blackarachnia, you did very well." She blinked. How did he know her name? "Now listen closely to what I say. You can't stay here; they'll find you. And then you'll never get to rescue your parents. I'll create a diversion while you escape…"

"No! Don't leave me!" For a nanoclick, she couldn't believe she wanted him, a `bot and on top of that a mech, with her. But she couldn't deal with the idea of being alone again in this strange place. She didn't want to get another vague order to run or not to breathe or something!

"I don't have any choice if you want to help your parents." He reminded. This shut her up. He reached into his compartment and grabbed a hologram device. He set it up on the ground, and it began to spout out pictures according to the directions he gave. "This is what you have to do: When things quiet down, walk through the back gate. Go all the way down the stairs until you reach the boiling room. There, you'll find Ratchet."

"Ratchet?" She asked, making sure she heard correctly.

He nodded. "Tell him you want to work here. Even if he refuses you must insist. If you don't get a job, Strika will turn you into an organic."

"Strika?" She was confused by all these names and information given her so suddenly. And what if she didn't want to work here? She didn't even know what 'here' was! But that wasn't an option and she knew it.

"She is in charge of the all-purpose car wash." He pointed with his thumb to the building. "Now, Ratchet will turn you down or trick you into leaving. But keep asking. It'll be hard work, but you'll be able to stay here."

She nodded. "O-Okay."

The commotion from the building suddenly grew louder. She flashed a glance there, seeing millions of new forms running around and screaming for Optimus. They even started arguing, not knowing how to find him. Optimus turned and frowned.

"I have to go." He said as he began to walk away. "Don't forget, Blackarachnia: I'm your friend."

She promised that she wouldn't.

---

Elita-1 rubbed her neck. Slagged uniform. She had to replace her entire armor plating with something that covered her entire body. Now she was gold and blue, with a brand-spankin' new helmet. She looked almost completely metallic. Were it not for the articulation on the blue parts of her 'uniform', her spider parts would be shriveling up from sweating so much.

It had been hard convincing Ratchet to help her, even harder to get Strika to even listen to her. The large femme had been very stubborn, and set on turning Elita-1 into a state similar to her parents. But by a chance of fate, her protoform had woken up during their skirmish, and it had distracted her enough to get Elita-1 to persuade her.

There was only one catch: to seal the contract she had to take a part of her name.

Now she was to be called Elita-1, though she knew that wasn't really her name. Unfortunately it was difficult to remember her original name. She did remember it started with the letter 'B', and that it had the word 'arachnid' creatively placed at the end.

She no longer felt quite so alone. Optimus was still there. Though he acted…different. Very different. He was mean to her, actually. He even told the other `bots that they could boil her if she didn't work hard enough! This didn't sound like the Optimus who had told her yesterday that he was her 'friend'. Maybe he was never her friend and he just wanted more help around the car wash.

Nobot else seemed to like him much either. She had been told that he was Strika's 'henchman' and not to trust him. But he was the one who had saved her and got her here! Even if he was just trying to get more help, why'd he choose her and not her dad? He was a big `bot, and he knew how to do hard work! Slaggit! Why was this so confusing?

On the other servo, she had also been introduced to Red Alert, who was her mentor of sorts. At first she had come across as rather snippy and rude, just like all the others. She didn't want to help her, and refused to talk to her in the elevator. But once Elita-1 had gotten the job, she became all warm and friendly. She told her everything she needed to know about working at the car wash, which didn't sound like much fun at all. Cleaning off dirty `bots never really persuade her to do hard work.

The other `bots weren't nice to here at all though. They made fun of her because of her 'smell' and her original spider-like appearance. She was thankful for her helmet. If they saw what her face looked like, she would probably only get more jeers. Now that she thought about it, if it weren't for this new uniform hiding most of her body, she'd probably get much more jeers than she already got. Though it did press against her spider-leg appendages, so she had to cut holes through it.

Now she was walking back out to the bridge. She had heard a voice – sounding like Optimus's - tell her to meet him there to see her parents earlier this morning. If it was Optimus, she wasn't sure if she trusted him. But her trust was bought when she thought of her parents. At least she'd know how they were.

She crawled through the small entryway where she had escaped the night before, and came out to where the bridge was. Only a little more before she could see her parents again!

As she raced up to the start of the bridge, she saw a `bot standing in the middle. It was the Tyrannosaurus Rex that she had seen the last time she crossed the bridge. He was almost in the same position as before, but this time he was staring at her and he was in his robot alt-mode. She could tell—he still had many of the alt-mode showing as kibble. She stopped, wary of crossing with him looking at her like that. Finally, she decided she had to. It was for her parents.

Taking a deep breath for courage, she made her way across, remembering that nobot saw her on the bridge when she held her breath last time. Maybe he didn't see her if she held her breath. But as soon as she passed him, he started following her, staring right at her. He knew she was there. She broke into a run, making sure he wouldn't do anything to her. He was awful scary-looking. She turned around to see if he had followed her any further.

To her surprise, there was nobot on the bridge anymore. He had disappeared.

Where did that guy go? Was he stalking her or something? She didn't have any time to ponder this before she heard somebot behind her. Twirling around, she found that whoever got there was very close to her. She looked up, noticing that she was staring at the `bot's shoulders. It was Optimus.

"Follow me." He said briskly. Thank you for being so nice, mister 'I'm too good to say a proper 'hello''! Nevertheless, Elita-1 did as she was told. They walked through the city in silence. Everything else was quiet, this early in the morning. The sun was barely even up yet. They walked through the city in silence. She recognized the route they were taking. She had been through here before. Soon their destination was in sight.

"The pig-shed!" She realized aloud.

"Yes." Optimus said, "But you must never go here without me, or you'll be turned into a pig too."

Elita-1 nodded. They passed through the entrance. She could hear the squealing noises of the early-bird pigs eager to eat, and smelled their revolting stench from over-stuffed bellies. She hoped her parents were comfortable here. Well…why shouldn't they be? They were pigs too. They were probably super happy.

She followed Optimus through the shed, before he stopped at one pen. There were two lone pigs inside, sleeping soundly, taking no notice of the world. They looked healthy. Very fat, but healthy. Pigs were supposed to be fat though, right? She looked at Optimus, and he nodded. These must be her parents! She leaned onto the pen wall, and screamed at the pigs, hoping to get through to the techno-organics inside.

"Mom! Dad! It's me! Elita-1!" Saying her name felt funny, but she didn't mind it now. She had to get them to know she was alright. It would be a lot easier if they were awake!

Optimus stepped up next to her. "They don't remember being techno-organics." He announced solemnly. "Look at them closely, because it's up to you to remember which ones they are."

She stared at them, trying to memorize every bit of their fleshy skin. Every fat, stinky part of them. She couldn't look at them for long. She was growing sick every nanoclick as she had to face the truth: these were her parents, and if she didn't do something, this is what they would always be like. Fat and good enough to eat. She had to save them!

"I'm going to help you I promise!" She cried, "So don't be glitches and get fatter, or they'll eat you!"

The pigs didn't respond. They just slept onward, and only a small twitch of an ear told her they heard her. Then they buried their faces deeper in the mud, eager to stay asleep. She couldn't take anymore, so she ran out of the shed. She didn't want Optimus to see her cry. The tears had started as soon as she left, and she crumpled to the ground. This wasn't fair. What had they done to deserve this?

Then she remembered what that hag Strika had told her. 'It was their own fault, eating the food of the 'bots like pigs. It was only obvious they would turn into them.' That glitch! She heard Optimus walk out behind her. Oh great. She quickly wiped off the water from under her helmet and turned around.

"Don't worry, Blackarachnia. You'll be able to save them." He assured. She looked at him, his blue viz scanners shining into her own, four red ones. She was glad that he had confidence in her, even if she wasn't sure whose side he was on. Come to think of it, she didn't know who he was talking to for a nanoclick. Who was…?

"'Blackarachnia'…" She pondered, before snapping back up to him. "That's my name, isn't it?"

That was her name! Her real name! Not the one Strika had halfheartedly given her. She didn't even know why she named her that; in her eyes, she was no kind of 'elite'.

"That's how Strika controls you. By stealing your name." Optimus explained, "Out here you are still 'Elita-1'. But you have to remember that, inside, you're still Blackarachnia."

"I can't believe I almost forgot my own name…" Blackarachnia shook her head in disbelief. "She almost took it from me…"

"If you completely forget it, you'll never be able to leave." He turned and looked into nothing, as if remembering something sad, "I've tried everything to remember mine…"

"You can't remember your name?" Her viz scanners widened.

"No…but…" He smiled and looked back at her, "for some reason I can remember yours."

They stood there in silence for almost a cycle. No wonder Optimus was considered so mean and Strika's henchman. Without his name, he couldn't do anything. He had to obey Strika. She felt a calming sense of relief. For awhile, she had been afraid that the Optimus she had known before was a lie. She liked him better when he acted like this. When she knew he was being himself, not Strika's henchman.

"Thanks for taking me to see them." She gestured with her head to the shed.

"It was nothing." He replied, "I've got to go now, but I'll be back to help you soon."

They walked out back to the bridge. She looked to see if that strange `bot was there, but found he was still gone. How did something so big vanish so fast? Surely she would've seen him somehow…

She turned to Optimus. Maybe she could ask him where he went. Then she thought for a nanoclick. Maybe it would be better to thank him instead. She had never felt so thankful before in her life. Her thanks before didn't seem like enough.

"Optimus…I…" She began. He shushed her by raising his servo.

"Just stay out of trouble." He insisted, and patted her towards the car wash. She nodded. Once again she didn't want to leave him, but she knew she had to. If she didn't work, she feared that the other `bots would do terrible things to her. She ran across the bridge, her side starting to hurt from what happened earlier, not looking back until she was on the other side. She couldn't see Optimus, but instead saw a fire truck driving away. That must be his alt mode.

Her gaze lingered as he drove out of sight. Then she returned to the car wash. She couldn't be late for her first time working.

As soon as she entered the building, it started to rain. That was just great. She hated water. It was a good thing to know she got out before it started. Though…now that she thought about it, if she was washing these `bots, she probably would have to have some interaction with water. She shuddered, not looking forward to it at all. No point just staring out the glass door; time to get back to her room.

The car wash was huge, with big tubs on three floors, two floors for the workers, a dining floor for the workers, a million other floors that she didn't know what were for, and finally a housing area for Strika and her protoform. It took Blackarachnia a while to memorize the specific pattern and number for her floor. By the time she found it, everybot had almost completely woken up, and several `bots were even running to their work stations. One `bot, a big purple one with antlers and a hollow head with a single, piercing red viz scanner nearly pushed Blackarachnia to the floor with his servo, hollering at her to get out of the way.

"Where were you, Elita-1? I got worried." Red Alert greeted as Blackarachnia entered their room. It was almost completely empty, with tons of ragged silky recharge bags scattered messily across the floor.

"Sorry…I was just…" Blackarachnia fumbled for an excuse. Getting fresh air? Admiring the sunrise? No, none of those would work. She could do all those from the balcony.

"Save it, we've got work to do." She motioned for her to follow. That was good. She didn't want to lie to Red Alert. That didn't sound like the best thing to do, considering how cross she got when she found out something she didn't like.

They walked over to a part of the building she had never been in before. The whole way there, the other `bots gave her evil looks and made snide remarks under their breath. One even looked ready to shoot at her with a bow he had in his servo and another, abnormally small, green femme with long 'pigtails'(possibly human-sized, with the pigtails almost as long as she was tall) glared at her behind her faceplate; with two other, identical yellow ones about her size mocked her. Red Alert stood high though, as if to tell them all that their judgments didn't affect her or Blackarachnia. Though the words did hurt Blackarachnia immensely.

Some femmes were already at work, wiping down the floors with some kind of polish. They were all in neat and orderly procession, a column of the row per each femme. Red Alert grabbed a rag and passed to to Blackarachnia.

"What do I do with this?" She looked at the dirty cloth hesitantly.

"Go to that section where nobots at. Wipe it down with the rest." She informed. Blackarachnia looked at the other femmes. A clean row of femme bots of all colors—white, blue, orange, green—all went in a straight, orderly line down the floor, going through it at the same pace. It looked easy and fast. She thought she could do it easily.

Boy was she wrong. The polish created a lot of friction and made it hard to push against the floor. Everybot else was quick and efficient. Blackarachnia lagged behind. At one point she tripped and fell. Some of the femmes chuckled. Even Red Alert looked a bit amused. Still, she tried her best to keep with the rest of them. She had to do the best work possible to keep this job. She didn't know what else to do.

"Slaggit, Elita-1, have you ever worked an orbital cycle in your life?" Red Alert asked once they were done. Blackarachnia was panting slightly as she wrung out a towel into a bucket. Her servo muscles ached. The truth was, she didn't know if she had ever really done any manual labor before. Her family had always been pretty well off.

She was about to answer when a `bot came up to Red Alert. He didn't look nice at all; he was white most of the way, with a big torso and strong stabilizing servos to hold him up, with servos that were most definitely designed for building. He had a beard-shaped prefecture on top of his faceplate, which reminded her of one of the famous humans she had seen on television once.

"Red Alert, Elita-1, you get the big room." He announced. His voice was gruff, and sounded like the voice you'd use for an evil genius. Though for a second, she thought she could hear a possible tinge of compassion underneath it. Or maybe that was just her getting her hopes up.

"What!? That's Hot Shot's work." Red Alert protested. She had seen Hot Shot before. He was a strange little `bot, with built-in flamethrowers he always used for even the most mundane of things. Once she even saw him burning down a random piece of paper and giggling. She shuddered at the thought of a pyromaniac working at a car wash.

"Strika's orders. So quit your complaining!" He growled, though obviously pleased by Red Alert's discomfort. Looks like she was right about him having compassion in his voice. He walked away, just in time to miss Red Alert's obscene hand gesture. She growled to herself, before jerking towards Blackarachnia and barking out an order.

"Alright. Empty that bucket outside, then head out to the wash." She instructed. Blackarachnia sighed, thankful for the simple work. That part of the job should be relatively easy. She grabbed the bucket and walked over to the door. She opened it, feeling the cold, damp air reach inside her blue armor, cooling the inner spider tissue. That was a relief. Slowly, she poured out the polish-water mix onto the ground outside, smelling the cleanser stain the clean air. When she looked up, she gasped.

It was that Tyrannosaurus Rex. He was standing out in the rain, just staring at her. How had he gotten here? Was he there the whole time, but she hadn't noticed him? She watched painfully as drop after drop of water splattered onto his armor. That must feel awful.

"Aren't you getting wet?" She asked. He didn't reply. Blackarachnia felt concern flash across her faceplate, though the T-Rex-bot simply stared through her, his faceplate expressionless.

"Elita-1! Get your fan-belt in gear! We've got to set up the big room!"

"Coming!" She shouted. She flashed a look back. There wasn't any more time to just stand out here and stare at the `bot outside. She had to fix up the big room, which, by the thought of Hot Shot working there, she knew must've looked like some kind of mess. But she couldn't just leave that `bot outside. Then she got an idea. "Look, I'm going to leave the door open. If you want, you can come in and get dry."

As she turned to leave, she thought she saw the `bot's faceplate curl into a smile.

---

The whole establishment was in a ruckus. Everybot was running around like crazy, screaming out complaints about some kind of stink. Something that was obviously worse than whatever Blackarachnia smelled like. Which must have said something, since none of the bots liked her smell to begin with. This wasn't how she had pictured the car wash to be; she knew how smelly techno-organics could get, and she thought the `bots in a car wash would have a lot more experience with bad smells. Something must be wrong.

She at least felt like she had a bit of an understanding of how things worked. She and Red Alert had just finished cleaning out the wash room they were assigned too, which was huge. It would've taken longer too, if it hadn't been for that Tyrannosaurus Rex. The foreman, a tall, blue `bot with an asteroid-sized chin and a gruff disposition, was very unwilling to give her the wash they needed to clean it faster. He didn't even give her any of his own free will, and called her a 'mutant freak'. But then, suddenly, the Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared and took the wash she needed while the foreman was distracted.

Of course, after that it took her forever to get him to leave her alone. He must've followed her into the room, because the next time she turned when Red Alert was gone to get their lunch he was right there. He had more washes ready for her, which she told him she didn't need. He didn't seem to listen to her though. She kept asking him to leave, that he shouldn't be here, that he didn't need a bath, that he would be thrown out by the others if he didn't leave, and pretty much every other thing she could think of to get rid of him. Finally, he got the message and left, leaving her the washes however. It was strange…like he was desperate to please her. All she had done was let him in from the rain. Nothing much.

"Elita-1! Strika wants to see you!" A monotone voice from the hall ordered. She sighed and walked out. It most likely had to do with what was happening right now. She ran past the `bot; a red and admittedly wimpy bot that worked as a bit of a secretary or something. He had a big yellow button-thing on his head. She kept wondering what that was for.

The owner of the car wash stood proudly near the entrance of the building, a smug look on her faceplate. The doors were slammed shut, and a muffled voice outside kept begging whatever was outside to stay outside for a little while longer. She noted that the air smelled just that much worse, like barf, diarrhea, and rust all mashed together into one, horrible smell.

"Now, Elita-1, don't mess this up." She said in her domineering voice, "Take the guest to the big room and take care of him."

"But I…" Blackarachnia began. Before she could continue one of the `bots, a large white one, stepped back, nearly stepping on her in fear.

"It's here! We can't hold the door anymore!" He announced, running wildly into the back. The earthquake-ish thing added to her fear and every other `bot that had been holding the entrance followed suite, some screaming as they did so. What could be so bad that it scared all of them? Blackarachnia wasn't sure. But she knew two things; it smelled horrible and it was her guest.

Ooze spouted out under the door before it crashed open. The stench hit her olfactory sensors full blast and she was forced to cover them to spare it from shriveling. Great SPARK IT WAS TERRIBLE!

"Servos down. You'll insult our guest." Strika growled, though she appeared to be struggling to keep her composure as well. Her servos were shaky and her voice wasn't as domineering and sturdy as it used to be. She had a very smug look on her faceplate. Her sparkless viz scanners pierced through her chassis, as though amused. Like a hunter shooting at a beast machine; the more animalistic of the techno-organics.

It was then Blackarachnia realized why she was assigned to this particular `bot. Strika wanted her to regret her decision of taking the job. Strika wanted her out of the car wash, for whatever reason. She was going to have to prove her wrong, even though it was definitely going to be painful. She hadn't even started the actual work yet, and already it was almost too painful to bear the smell.

Blackarachnia wasn't sure how to describe the…thing that came through the door. It didn't appear to be a `bot at all. More likely a giant collection of grime and glop that could move. There were even some space barnacles on it, which also explained why the slime looked so drained. The sight was absolutely nauseating, not even considering the smell that wafted off of it. This thing sure came to the right place. It looked like it was in need of a wash stellar cycles ago.

"Welcome, valued customer." Strika greeted through clenched dental plates. The sludge-bot oozed forward and lifted out what seemed to be a servo. It was more like a random blotch of brown, yucky nothing that seemed to take all the effort in the world just to lift it up. In it was something golden and glistening. "Oh, money. Here, Elita-1, take the nice `bot's money." Strika, the hag, obviously didn't want to handle it herself. If she was able, then Blackarachnia would bluntly say no and tell her to shove it up her crankcase and handle it for herself. But she was in no position to object, and she had to do what she said.

"O-Okay!" Inching closer, she kept one leg back and one forward, making sure the only thing that touched it was her servo. She hoped that the new uniform she wore would keep it from seeping into her organic parts. Something pushed her forward—most likely Strika, and she found her entire servo inside the glob of what could only be described as the scum of the universe. And then some. She winced as the goo sloshed onto her armor. She couldn't even locate the money; it was so consumed with icky goop. Then she finally found a big pile of coins seeping through, grabbed them, and jerked back.

"Don't make him wait! Get him to the wash!" Strika ordered. It took everything in her power not to scream into her face then and there. She clenched her teeth and pulled them back into a smile. She knew it probably looked more like a grimace.

"This way." Blackarachnia gulped. She began to lead the sludge-bot through the building to the big room. The whole way there `bots hid at the sight and smell of them. The floor had been covered in a layer of the ooze as the `bot kept seeping it. It lagged behind slowly, so she had no choice but to go as slow as it did, which meant she was at the butter zone of its entire stink. This had to be the most uncomfortable experience in Blackarachnia's life.

Finally, they made it to their room. She ushered him in, the forced grimace from earlier plastered on her face, which turned more into a pained frown as it passed her. Red Alert, who she hadn't noticed earlier, came up to her quickly, with a rag to her olfactory sensor.

"What kind of `bot is that?"

"You tell me." Blackarachnia responded through clenched teeth. The `bot headed to the initial tub where `bots were scrubbed down. As his chassis entered the water, it overflowed and mixed with the slime that was everywhere. Blackarachnia winced as it filled up the room to her waist. Gross.

She looked back at the sludge-bot blob thing and it turned, apparently looking at her. He leaned over the side of the tub reached out a sludge-covered servo-blob, pointing toward the spout where the wash water would come out. He wanted her to start it up.

She nodded and ran over to the screen. As soon as she got there, the screen popped to life and showed Ratchet working in the furnace room, his magnets and little nano-bot clusters busy keeping the furnace working.

"Ratchet! I need a wash. Like now!" She tried not to shout. Ratchet had a horrible temper.

"Okay, okay. Don't get yer gears in a grind. I'm on it." Ratchet huffed from the other line. The screen turned off and she heard the water flow through the pipes almost immediately after. Now she just had to turn on the spout for the sludge-bot.

She plowed through the muck, which was very thick, and made her way over to the spout. The handle to turn it on was a little too high for her, but Red Alert was tall enough to reach it. Unfortunately, she was on the other side of the room, apparently trying to calm down the sludge-bot—was he getting impatient? Maybe he wanted to get rid of the sludge as much as every other `bot did. She shifted her weight to her toes in order to make her slightly taller. There! She got a hold of it. But as soon as she grabbed it, it slipped out of her servos. She found herself stepping on bits of solid gunk and everything, and kept falling and struggling to stay upright. To her horror she found herself finally losing all coordination, falling straight into the sludge-bot!

Water burst from the spout and lodged her into his side. It was very powerful, and was enough to force a lot of the original gunk off, but not enough to make it go away completely. She constantly felt more and more gunks smash into her instead, the combined feeling of grime and water made Blackarachnia squirm. She was stuck, and she would run out of air soon. What a horrible way to go offline.

Unexpectedly, she was picked up by an equally slimy servo and pulled out. She gasped as she was lifted out of the gunk and water, with the spout now above her and safely outside the sludge-bot and instead inside the tub. It was good to be able to breathe again. The sludge-bot…it had saved her. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

It raised her higher, and then pushed her closer to its sticky chassis. Blackarachnia took back that last statement. It must have been trying to punish her for stumbling. Why did she expect any different? Almost none of these `bots were genuinely nice to her. Then, looking through the water she could see something odd sticking out of the ooze. Something…metallic.

"Elita-1! Where are you!?" She turned. It was Red Alert, cloth still tightly pressed over her olfactory sensors. She was opening the door, screaming out for help. Blackarachnia didn't hear what Red Alert said, instead focused on pulling out to tell her what she found out. If that metallic gleam meant anything, then she might have an idea…

"I'm okay!" She called.

"Don't worry! S-Stay right where you are, I'm coming to help you!" Her voice was broken up. Blackarachnia doubted she knew what to do in this situation. Maybe these `bots weren't so different from her after all—she never saw someone this mucky and downright soiled at a bath house, let alone a car wash. "You're going to be fine. I won't let him hurt you."

She thought about this statement. Blackarachnia didn't think the sludge-bot would hurt her. If he wanted to he would've done it earlier. Thinking quickly, she realized that maybe her theory was correct. If it was, she knew she had to help it.

"I think it might need help! Something's stuck in its side!" She screamed, trying to be heard over the crashing water from behind her. She hadn't been able to turn off the spout during the skirmish. Strika probably wouldn't be happy with her for wasting the water. If she lost the job, she didn't know what she could do, or where to go. She hoped they wouldn't immediately eat her parents after all this. She hoped her plan would work.

"Stuck!?" Red Alert didn't look convinced.

Blackarachnia tried to ignore the water that was around her and focus on the object that was wedged in the slime. She grabbed at it, and tried to pull it out. She tried holding on to it with all her might and letting the water and grime force her out. She felt herself get pulled out, but all she got from the notion was a strange, pained cry from inside the slime. No good. Either she wasn't strong enough, or it was too deep.

"It won't come out!" She grunted.

"Here, use this!" It was Strika. Why was she here? She threw a cable at Blackarachnia who caught it clumsily. What, did all of the `bots here read minds? "This isn't an ordinary customer. Pull!"

She tried to tie it around but the water pushing made it difficult. It sucked being so weak. She wished she worked harder most of her life. She wished she was strong enough to get past the water and grime. She wished she was strong enough to save this `bot. Soon enough, Red Alert came up next to her and did the knot for her. She looked at her, nodded, and passed the other end of the cable back to Strika, who handed it off to some `bots behind her. All she saw were a flurry of colors.

"Pull now!" Red Alert cried. They all heaved, Blackarachnia using all the strength she could muster. It was straining her muscles. She felt herself get out of the much somewhat, and the same cry came out of the `bot. It was much clearer now, and now she realized that it was almost as though two voices were groaning at the same time.

Finally, the object popped out. It was a bicycle. Blackarachnia only had a nanoclick to stare at it. As soon as it flew out, a whole array of slag followed after it. More bicycles. A refrigerator or two. Tires. Frameworks. Toasters. All kinds of trash. She stepped back as it began to fill a corner of the room. Red Alert and the other `bots ran out of the room altogether. It was too late for Blackarachnia to follow them. The trash had blocked the way. She was left ducking down and watching all the muck spew out from the `bot.

There was a sighing sound as water spurted out from the tub. Blackarachnia held her breath, hoping to the Allspark that she'd be able to survive the water. She clamped her nose freely now, and felt herself be completely submerged in water. After a while of keeping her viz scanners offline, she felt the water part away. She onlined her viz scanners and unplugged her olfactory sensor.

What happened next happened quickly. For a second, she though she saw one, large `bot draped over the edge of the tub. Then, through all the steam of the hot water, she saw it… split in half. Her viz scanners widened, and she rubbed them just to make sure she wasn't imagining. What she saw after were two figures, which got clearer and clearer as the steam cleared.

She heard the other `bots behind her stand up and stare as well as her, and simply watched as the two `bots woke up. One was orange, and the other was blue, and they were both mechs. The orange one had a different head than the blue one, but other than that their chassis were completely and wholly identical. The blue one woke up first, and started moving, before the orange on groaned and looked towards the blue one.

The two `bots just stared at each other. She had no choice but to watch. She saw the two mechs smile at each other, and felt suspense hang in the air. Before, finally the orange one spoke.

"We're free?"

"We're free."

"We're free!"

The last statement was said by both of them, before they transformed. They were flying vehicles, she saw, and they shot up into the high ceiling of the floor. They flew above the walls, which ended before they touched the ceiling. Everyone started following them, while Blackarachnia just hid behind the edge of the door. She peered through the edge, admiring the calligraphic movements of the two mechs. She was amazed at what she saw.

The orange (though now that she looked at him his chassis was more white than orange) one was creating fire that somehow stayed in place where he threw it. The blue one, however, moved it around with what she could only describe as visible wind and through all their tricks the other `bots all just watched the beauty of the item they were creating. It was a beautiful pattern of fire and wind, and even Blackarachnia had to agree that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Then the blue `bot transformed into robot mode and used his boosters to stay in place, and the orange one did the same and stood on his shoulders. Then they spun. Engulfed in fire and wind, they span and span with a ball of fire covering them. Then the fire spread above the walls and under the ceiling, reaching every corner of the floor, before dying away. And right before it died away, every ember and ash and singes it left turned into solid gold, and it rained down gold on everyone. It only took a second for everyone to discover what it was before everyone scrambled to get the gold. Blackarachnia started to get excited herself. Gold! Maybe if she collected some, she'd be able to bribe Strika to let her and her parents free. Ignoring the unbearable clatter and greed-fueled yell of the `bots as best she could, she prepared to reach down and take some for herself, before wind came from nowhere and slid the door shut.

What!? She tried prying the door open, and pulled as hard as her servos could handle, but it was glued shut.

"Thank you."

She jerked towards the voice. It was somewhat deep, but still had a tinge of youth in it. He saw the two mechs looking straight at her, both smiling wide. She felt strange, with such wide smiles aimed at her. It had been a while since a smile like that had been directed straight at her. She kept quiet, and looked through her peripherals at the room. It was filthy; mountains of gunk and slag littered the floors, and it still smelled revolting. Then she looked back at the two mechs.

They were covered in all that gunk and grime and slag. She could barely imagine—let alone fathom—how spark wrenchingly horrible it must have been for those two mechs to be covered in all that grime. She took another look at them, and noted how they had slim, admittedly attractive builds, and a layer of thick glass around where their spark chambers were. They were untouched by shadow and light, save for white markings on it that must have symbolized something. She didn't know how `bots worked.

She finally realized they were waiting for her to answer.

"Uh… you… you're welcome?"

"We does not know how to be thanking you enough!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Great spark, thank you so impossibly very much!!!" She suddenly found herself being jerked up and down by the white and orange mech, his voice slightly higher in tone than the other one. She got dizzy from all the pulling. Then he stopped, and she heard the blue one scold him like a younger brother. When she finally got her posture back, she simply looked at the two fighting brothers; though she did note that the orange one was being slightly more submissive than the blue one.

"L-look, I appreciate your thanks, but really need to go—"

"Please to be waiting!"

"We is wanting to give you something." She was taken aback a bit, but nodded anyway. She wasn't sure how these two would take a 'no' anyway. So she simply watched as the orange one pulled his hip-guard out, with a small bag of something falling out and landing into the blue one's servo. The orange one put his hip-guard back into place, and the blue one held it out. The orange one balanced it on his hand as well, the bag being so big it was difficult to hold with one hand. They both bent their knees and placed their servos up regally, presenting the bag to her.

"Please accept this gift as symbol of our eternal gratitude." The two mechs said, their previous display of improper syntax disappearing and their voices mixing together into one smooth, convincing voice. She didn't know what to make of this. Slowly, she reached out and timidly took the bag from their servos. Once she had it in both her servos, they screamed in glee and flew out eagerly, the fire and wind coming from behind them mixing together into more gold, leaving the already cacophonous room almost inaudibly loud, with so many people scrambling for the gold.

She stared at her bag. Slowly, she loosened a knot that held it together. Inside were little green spheres. She wasn't sure what they were for, or what they were exactly. She stared at them for a nanoclick, wondering what kind of benefit this would have. It must have been better than gold for the two to give it to her and not the rest of the workers.

Cautiously, she picked one of the spheres and put it in her mouth. It tasted horrible, but it was almost impossible to get it out of her mouth. She wanted to get rid of it. Trying to open her mouth, she failed so much at getting rid of it; it just sunk farther back into her throat. After a cycle of struggling, she decided the best idea was to just swallow it and get it over with.

Once she did, everything felt so much better than it used to.

---

So much had happened this morning. Everybot had stopped working because somebot was giving out gold in return for fuel. At least, they stopped doing the work they were supposed to be doing. Now they were all just making food and serving the `bot. All the `bots working here were greedy. They would do anything to get their servos on the shiny currency. Blackarachnia could care less. She had her parents' lives at stake. That was much more important than any amount of gold to her.

So Blackarachnia had stayed in her room, having no desire to please this wealthy guest. Whoever he was she thought he must not have been any kind of nice. So she just stayed in her room, the recharge bags all sprawled around the floor, some lumpy from the gold they hid in there. She huffed a bit; didn't these `bots know what was really important in this world? Did she know…?

She decided to get some fresh air. Out on the balcony, she stood with her old armor on. The river beneath her was gleaming, and the train tracks at the bottom caught her attention. There was something driving on it, thousands of small object following it. It was bright red. It was a fire truck. Optimus!

Whatever happened, she didn't want to just stand there and do nothing! But she had no choice after she saw it splash into the water. She knew she couldn't go into the water. She'd drown. For once, she wished she wasn't a techno-organic, or at least one that could swim. Cursing herself, she ran inside, slapped on the uniform, and tore through all the floors as fast as she could.

A lot of `bots had been in her way, but she managed to push through them. Plenty of `bots screamed at her for making them drop their energon or something like that. Slag them. Optimus was hurt! Then she ran into a hallway, and stopped. Inside, there was a large Tyrannosaurus Rex standing in the hallway, with a million other `bots standing near the wall with all kinds of flavored energon. Nobot had made a move. They all just stared at her with slack jaws.

Slowly, she walked up to the large T-Rex. Nobot protested, and the T-Rex even made a smile-like face. When she got up to it, it still didn't move. She stared at it, waiting for it to move out of her way. When it didn't she decided to ask it to move. But before any sound left her mouth, the T-Rex transformed into its robot mode. She stared at the large, almost 'fat' stature of the `bot. Then she heard the voice of the little yellow `bot from her first night in this strange world.

"Elita-1! Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day!" She didn't know what to make of this. The fast, moderately high-pitched voice from the yellow `bot definitely did not suit this dinosaur. She let her mouth hang there, not knowing how to reply. But she didn't need to; the `bot suddenly thrust his servos out towards her. Inside it, tons of gold materialized from nowhere. She heard a different voice beckon for her to take it. She looked at the `bot's face, which was smiling, almost… desperately.

"I… I'm sorry. A friend of mine is hurt! I need to go help him!" The `bots to the side started gasping and some even started whispering to their neighbors. The bot frowned, and persisted, this time with the yellow `bots voice again.

"C'mon, take it!"

"I'm sorry! My friend is in trouble! Please get out of my way!" She begged. The `bot seemed to be getting angry.

"Take the gold! Take it!"

"Are you going to eat me?!"

"TAKE IT!"

This time the `bot jumped up and flew towards her. Oh slag! Quickly, she dashed to the other side, leaving the large `bot belly-down onto a big tray and cart full of food and energon, and many of the `bots quickly ran to safety. The `bot stood up and produced a flaming sword from his back. He started swinging it everywhere, and things started catching on fire. She ran straight for the exit to the hallway, and passed another balcony…

That had Optimus repelling up!

She had to think quickly! Running outside onto the balcony, she only saw a small patch of red with tons of small, white things following him. Quickly, she shot out some webbing from her hand, making sure it stayed connected, and sucked it back it. The other end was much too sticky to fall apart, so she was pulled up towards the top floor. Now she was hanging on the side of the building, using her webbing to move over to the window that (hopefully) led to Strika's room. She actually wasn't quite sure. If it didn't lead directly to it, it would at least get her in the immediate area.

There! The window! She entered the crevice and pushed up against it to open it. It was jammed stuck. No matter how hard she pushed, it wouldn't budge. Slaggit! This wasn't the time to be weak!

Suddenly, it opened, and she tumbled head-first into the room. She rubbed her aching chassis as she slowly stood up and looked around. It wasn't Strika's room. Actually, it appeared to be a connector room more than anything. And there were pools of Energon and oil splattered all over the room. She quickly located a hallway and raced down it. Optimus wouldn't last long hurt like that. Another room opened to her right and she turned into it.

It was a padded room, the floor soft and plushy. Scattered messily around were all sorts of pillows and toys. There was even an oil-bottle and a nice-looking bed. But the thing was, they were all massive-sized compared to her. What kind of room was this? She hesitantly walked in. Up on the ceiling was beautiful daytime scene, and it was almost as though she were outside right now.

"We're in a big mess…" She heard a muffled voice say from another room. It was Strika! Slowly, Blackarachnia headed toward it, and found herself in a small connecting room between the one she was in and Strika's. She tiptoed as quietly as she could over to the door and listened in to her conversation.

"…I know who our rich customer is…He's a Dinobot…It's all your fault! You're so greedy. You attract terrible guests…alright I'm on my way. Get some water to set off the fires and don't let him eat anybot else until I get down there…"

A Dinobot? Oh no, that must've been the T-Rex! He was eating `bots? This had to be her fault…Blackarachnia felt sick at the thought of all those `bots getting devoured. Hopefully Red Alert was smart enough to get away in time. Then she felt silly. Red Alert was smart enough to take care of herself! And she was plenty strong enough!

"Eww…Optimus is bleeding all over my floor…" She heard Strika grumbled. Her viz scanners widened. Optimus! He was in there! "Get him out of here. He'll be offline soon anyways."

Blackarachnia froze. No. No! She couldn't let him go offline! How dare Strika treat him like this? He was obedient to her, and she would just let him go offline without a second thought. The glitch!

Footsteps heading toward her. Strika must be coming in! She couldn't let her see her! Blackarachnia stumbled back into the cushioned room. She had to find a place to hide. She looked around wildly. There! A big pile of pillows was right next to her, and she dove into them. Just in time too. She heard Strika open the door.

The pillows were so tightly pushed together, it was hard to get any air. She took as few breaths as possible and held it for a nanoclick. Barely any light shone in, so it was almost impossible to see. She felt something hard bump into her back. That definitely wasn't a pillow. She just started feeling panic creep up her back from whatever else was in here that she nearly screamed. Strika began to hurriedly rummage through the pile. She knew she was there! Blackarachnia squirmed to the side, hoping she wouldn't be revealed hiding in there. What would Strika do to her? What would she do to Optimus?

Finally, she stopped. Something tossed next to her. It whimpered.

"There you are sweetie! Hiding under the cushions again." Strika cooed. The sweetness in her voice sounded grossly unnatural. He protoform was in here, too, Blackarachnia realized. It must have been well hid, because she couldn't see it. The protoform grew more upset and began to cry. "Oh! I woke you and you were sound asleep. I'm sorry, let me give you a kiss!"

The pressure from the pillows suddenly increased, as Strika no doubt pressed all her weight onto her protoforms head. It was almost impossible to breathe now, and she held her breath as best she could. Hold it! Don't let her see you! Don't fail like last time on the bridge!

"Go back to sleep now!" She said. Blackarachnia heard her walk out of the room, not before turning off the lights. Actually, it was more like turning off the sun; it was as dark as night time now, and if it weren't for a crack or two in the structure of pillows she wouldn't be able to see at all. She waited a cycle. Strika didn't come back, and the protoform seemed to be asleep again. Quietly, she maneuvered her arm out of a pile and stretched it towards on the wholes. She grabbed the outside and started to pull herself out. Not two nanoclicks had passed before something grabbed her servo. She cried out as she was pulled back in, further this time.

"Ow! Let go of me, you glitch!" She shouted, viz scanners shut tight in anger. When she opened them, she found she was face-to-face with a very large `bot. He was green, with a grey chinplate that seemed frozen in a smile. The rest of his faceplate was frowning, however. "Wow…you are a big protoform…" For a nanoclick, she just stayed still and stared at the size of the protoform. Then she remembered Optimus. "Let me go, I'm in a big hurry!"

"You came in here to make me sick." Blackarachnia blinked, surprised the protoform could speak at this age. It was obviously very young, and probably no older than two stellar cycles. But nothing else seemed to make any sense in this blasted world/dimension/realm/whatever! "You're a bad virus from outside, aren't you?"

"I'm not a virus! I'm a techno-organic." She huffed, "Now, let go of me!" She struggled in his grasp, but he was too strong to break free from.

"You'll get a virus if you go outside." The protoform informed, "So stay here, and play with me!"

Blackarachnia wasn't sure what kind of slag Strika had taught this protoform. What was this, an epidemic? She felt a pang of sympathy for the poor `bot; he didn't know better. But it didn't matter now.

"Look! Somebot very important to me is hurt, and I need to help him!" She begged. It was weird saying this, but it was true. Optimus was different from any mech she had ever met before. He cared about her. And she still had that feeling that they had met before. If anything, she wanted to know where; or even if they ever met before.

"If you go, I'll cry. Mama will hear me, and then she'll come in and offline you." He threatened. "Play with me, or I'll break your servo." He twisted it around, as if proving he was not incapable of carrying out his threat. She winced as pain shot up her servo. That glitch! How cruel could she get that she taught a protoform to use force if it didn't get what it wanted!?

"That hurts!" She cried. He didn't listen. "I'll play with you later, okay?" Not likely.

"No, now!" He growled. Blackarachnia wasn't sure how she would get out of this. He was so much bigger and stronger than she was. Finally, she thought of an idea.

"Look!" She extended her free servo, which was covered in oil from Optimus that was left on the wall. She didn't even remember touching it, but she was glad she did. "I've got germs! Let me go, or I'll infect you with a virus!"

The protoform's viz scanners widened in fear and he let go of her, squirming away from her as fast as his bulky chassis would allow him. He cried out and his sudden motions made the pillow pile begin to collapse. Blackarachnia pushed her way out of the falling cushions and ran to Strika's room. She could still hear the protoform wailing. Hopefully he wouldn't attract Strika's attention.

She gasped as soon as she entered the room. There was Optimus in his robot mode, lying on the floor, energon oozing out of him. His armor was cracked in many places. His color was fading away. She ran up to him and put her servo on his chestplate. His sparkbeat was faint.

"Optimus! Are you alright!? Can you hear me!?" She shouted. There was no response, all he did was stare at the floor, looking like he was about to gag.

Something rammed into her head and almost knocked off her helmet. It was the bird from earlier that had been looking for her in the city. She could see it in full detail now; it almost looked like a guitar. It only had two colors, red and black, and it gave a weird metallic cry as it swooped again for another attack. She shielded herself from its beak. It was relentless, clawing and tearing and gnawing at her servos while she waved him away constantly, struggling to keep her balance.

"Stop it!" She cried, beating it away. Couldn't it see that Optimus was hurt and that he needed help!? The bird stopped and flew in place, while she stared at the protoform in full detail. It had two large kibble-structures protruding from his back like her spider-leg appendages, and a large, bulky chassis being supported halfheartedly by stumpy legs.

The door to the other room crashed open, and the protoform came lumbering in, looking rather frustrated.

"I'm not scared of viruses anymore." He announced, "If you don't play with me, I'll cry!"

Blackarachnia wanted to cry. Why were so many `bots intent on stopping her from saving Optimus? He couldn't be nearly that bad of a `bot! He helped her! Why couldn't anyone else see the good inside him? Why didn't anyone give him a chance?

"Not now, okay! Don't cry!" She pleaded.

"Now! I'm going to cry!" He wailed, as oil leaked down his faceplate. Blackarachnia felt like she was going to explode from stress.

Suddenly, something materialized beside her. The protoform stopped crying at once. They all stared at it for a nanoclick. It was most definitely a mech, with a black screen on its large chest and clunky feet, with speakers on its shoulders and back kibble. It was a shade of dark blue, and had brightly glowing cyan parts decorating his chassis like tattoos. And he was see-through; just like her when she first came here.

"Slaggit, still see-through…" His voice was very monotonous, yet somehow managed to be musical. He turned up to the rest of them. His expression was impossible to read, his face covered in some sort of protective thingy. "What a large protoform. What's my sister been feeding you? A mountain?"

"Hey! You don't talk about my mama that way! She's an important person and she'll beat you up if you—"

"Mute it." Suddenly, a jarring, yet somehow melodic sound blared from the speakers the mech had, and was loud enough to cause Blackarachnia to hold her audio receptors in shock. When the sound stopped, she opened her viz scanners to something she didn't expect. The bird that had previously been trying to tear her limb from limb was now reduced to a fly, while the protoform was rendered a small, green mouse.

"There…that was fun." His voice was now a tune that seemed hypnotic, yet very displeasing, "Thank you for leading me to the fire truck. It would've been so much harder to do it on my own."

Blackarachnia wasn't sure how she had led him to Optimus. Then she remembered about those small things chasing him. They disappeared after she followed them—she had thought that maybe it was Strika that destroyed them but now…

"The small things—you sent them to chase down Optimus!"

"Your interference is not accepted, techno-organic." He knew she was a techno-organic? Must've been that 'smell' all the other 'bots kept complaining about. Or maybe it was the fact her spider-leg appendages still stuck out.

"What do you want with Optimus?" Blackarachnia frowned, "He's badly hurt."

"Too bad. He stole something very precious from me. I want it back. By any means possible." Soundwave sneered. Blackarachnia didn't want to think about what he would do to Optimus.

"Optimus is a good `bot! He wouldn't steal!"

"Do you know why he became my sister's apprentice?" He asked. Blackarachnia shook her head, "He wanted to steal her abilities for himself. And now he has stolen mine too. He's a greedy little thief. Nothing good about him."

Blackarachnia's processor throbbed. Why did Optimus have to so confusing? She wanted to believe he was her friend. He had proven that he was her friend. But everybot else said that he wasn't. That he was mean. A thief. She even saw him do mean things to others! And he was even willing to let her be boiled up with the Energon! Who should she believe!? Slaggit, this was so confusing!

"Now step aside, and leave me to retrieve what is rightfully mine." He ordered. "Anybot who steals it will go offline."

"No! You can't! What kind of a sick numb node are you, killing 'bots for stealing!?" Blackarachnia screamed, covering Optimus with her chassis, just like he did when she was in trouble. She wouldn't let this blue walking megaphone hurt him! She needed him! …to help her with her parents

There was a racket behind them. Both turned and saw that the 'protoform' was charging after the mouse and bird, who were scrambling to get out of its way. Didn't it turn into the mouse? What was going on!?

"Stop making so much noise! You'll warn my sister!" The `bot ordered, now his tone being high-pitched and level.

Blackarachnia felt Optimus jolt underneath her. She leaned back, and he shot up. An axe appeared in his hand, and he brought it down. It hit a piece of paper that Blackarachnia hadn't noticed before on the ground. It resembled a musical note, but she couldn't get the details of it before it—and the `bot—disappeared.

Blackarachnia couldn't believe it! He was okay! He wasn't offline. But as soon as she thought this, he began to stagger a bit. Holding out both of his servos, he shook heavily. He looked ready to fall down and die.

"Optimus!" She cried. Then she noticed that a garbage disposal was on the floor. The 'protoform' started pushing him back, willing to toss him into the fire pits to burn and die. She grabbed a hold of him, trying to keep him on the top floor. The mouse and the fly started helping too, though their efforts were useless against the large 'protoform'. She couldn't let him fall into the boiler room!

Wait… the boiler room!

She felt the the air hit her hard as they fell through the shaft. She held on to him as hard as she could. He seemed to be unconscious again, his viz scanners closed in pain. They passed by so many floors of the car wash she couldn't count. She had to wake him back up! If they just crashed, then her plan would never work! She had to make sure he would be awake; or at least on top of her so she could carry him. On her shoulder, the mouse and fly held on for their tiny lives.

"Optimus!" She shouted. His viz scanners came back to life, and he quickly transformed into a fire truck. She landed on top of him, grabbing hold of the roof of the vehicle. Something sparked in her memory core. She had done this before…except…was it under water?

They crashed through a fan and landed hard on the ground. Blackarachnia flew off of Optimus. For a nanoclick, everything was dark. A voice was ushering her awake, and she opened her viz scanners. Her vision was blurry from the acceleration. But she could see the faceplate of the `bot who held her. It was Ratchet. She was in the boiler room.

She didn't have time to sit and be hurt. She had to check up on Optimus. He was back in his robot mode, thrashing around like something was eating him from the inside.

"Optimus!" She screamed as she leapt out of Ratchet's grasp.

"Elita-1! Wait! What's going on?" Ratchet asked as she ran forward. She couldn't answer him. Not until she knew Optimus was alright.

"Optimus are you okay!?" She went to his side again. He had slumped down on the floor, though he was fighting to get up again. He held himself up shakily with weak arms, now as strong as toothpicks. He stared at her warily, as if he didn't recognize her. He must be delirious. Energon was flowing from his mouth, "What's wrong with you…?"

"This looks serious…" Ratchet walked over to the two of them, "Ye know I'm a part-time medibot, right?"

Blackarachnia wasn't sure how to respond. That was a good thing, right? She met a medibot before—a nice little cheetah techno-organic that had only been out of class for two stellar cycles. She was scared of having him check up on her. What if he missed something important? Before she could tell him about her previous experience with medibots, Optimus collapsed, seemingly drained of all strength.

"Don't give up, glitch! Keep going!" Blackarachnia cried. She turned to Ratchet, "What do I do?"

He contemplated, staring at Optimus intently, "It looks like he's bleedin' from the inside."

"The inside!?" She repeated. That couldn't be good.

"Yep. Must've eaten something…" Ratchet reasoned. Eaten something…That's it! Quickly, Blackarachnia reached into her own hip-guards. She grabbed the bag the twin mechs had given her and procured one of the spheres. It had made her feel better, what about Optimus? It was worth a shot. Even if it did taste completely horrifying.

"Optimus, eat this. It should help." She pushed the sphere towards his mouth. He kept it shut. She would have found this ironic, as he had tried to do the same thing to her when she first arrived with the same results, but right now she was under too much pressure. He had to eat this! "Open your mouth, glitchhead! Look, its fine, see!?" She bit half of it off to show that it didn't hurt her. She grimaced from the taste, but she still swallowed. She started to relax significantly. He still didn't respond, but his mouth became less taut. She tried to open it up manually, now much calmer thanks to the medicine.

"Medicine…Must be from those twin `bots…" Ratchet mused. Finally, she got his mouth open, and she forced the sphere into it.

"Now swallow!" She ordered. His viz scanners widened. The horrible taste must have started. He began to squirm but she held him down. If he didn't swallow, he might go offline.

After a cycle's struggle, he seemed to have taken it down. Blackarachnia sighed and stepped back. It was a good thing too. Immediately after, he began to gag, and a black gooey thing popped out of his mouth onto the floor. She stared at it for a nanoclick in disgust.

WHAT THE SPARK WAS THAT!?

"Elita-1! Look there!" Ratchet pointed at it. It dissolved, revealing a small wooden object and a little…Blackarachnia didn't know what it was. It resembled a slug, but had the consistency of tar. It began to squirm across the floor, "Get it! Get it!"

She followed it as it slipped around the room. It tried to go to the nano-bot's hiding space, but they wouldn't let it pass. When it got close enough to her, she began to slam her stabilizing servo down, trying to squish it. It had tried to offline Optimus. It should be squashed.

Finally, she hit her mark. It burst open and sprayed the goo all over her stabilizing servo. The disgusting feel spread throughout her entire body, making her shake uncontrollably. She hopped on one foot trying to scrape it off.

"Elita-1! Get over here! That thing's bad luck!" Blackarachnia started to panic—the previous effect of the medicine wore off from the sheer atrocity of the slug-thingy. Hopping frantically, she listened to Ratchet with wide viz scanners. "Quick! Put yer thumb and forefingers together!" Blackarachnia did as she was told, and Ratchet lifted his servo. "Evil… be gone!" He karate-chopped her finger and thumb apart, and then all the squirmy feelings from the slug vanished and the residue on her foot left.

"Ye killed it!" Ratchet smiled. She grabbed the object from the floor and showed it to him.

"Optimus stole this from Strika's brother..."

Ratchet studied the object. It was a small cassette-thing, black with grey highlights. It didn't look important at first, but then Ratchet pressed a button in the middle of it. Then it turned into a small kitten. It was mechanical, but it was adorable. And a living thing.

"A cat!?"

"Must be Soundwave's."

"Soundwave?"

"Strika's brother. Elder. He used to be in charge of a culture station in Iacon, but now he's livin' by himself. He's got power, that `bot. He has complete control over all sorts of sound." This Soundwave didn't sound like a good `bot at all. She stared at the small kitten in Ratchet's servo. It looked up at her, and made a small sound. Almost as if it were… whimpering. Who'd want to eat this poor little thing…?

Optimus! She had almost forgotten about him with the whole slug deal. She turned, and saw that he had fallen forward on his faceplate. She ran over to him. Pressing her hand to his chestplate, she found he was completely colored.

"What should we do!?" She cried. She was so desperate. Ratchet had to help her. She couldn't let him go offline. She turned Optimus over on his back. He grunted a bit. So he was still online! "Optimus! Wake up!"

"He's gravely ill…" He extended his magnetic prongs and pulled out some cabinets. Once he found the one he was supposed to open, he pulled out a bottle of something. He gave it to Blackarachnia, and told her to make Optimus drink it. She obeyed. Anything for Optimus. He wasn't as delirious as he was before, so he took it easily. Then they lied him back down gently. "Poor Optimus, he's had it hard ever since he got here…"

"What do you mean?"

"He just showed up outta nowhere. Just like you. But he got mixed up with Strika, wanted to be her apprentice. I warned him. It was too dangerous. Told him to go back home. But he said 'I got no home to go back to', he said. He's never been the same since Strika got control of him…" He sighed. "Poor kid…"

Blackarachnia suddenly had an idea.

"Ratchet, what if I take this back to Soundwave?" She asked. "I could apologize for Optimus. Do yo know where he lives?"

"You'd go to him?" He scratched his head, "It might help…but be warned; he's not the nicest mech out there."

"Optimus helped me before…now I want to help him…" She explained. Ratchet smiled.

"I know how ye can get there, but you'd hafta come back on yer own…" He paused, "Wait here…"

He walked back over to the cabinets and began rummaging through them, throwing the unwanted things on the ground.

"I guess…my parents will have to wait…" Blackarachnia realized aloud. She couldn't focus on them and Optimus at the same time. She loved her parents dearly, and she'd do anything to change them back. But without Optimus, she wasn't sure how she would save her parents.

"Elita-1!" The door opened and Red Alert came in, "I've looked everywhere for you!"

"Red Alert!"

"There's oil everywhere…" She said, looking around in disgust, "What happened?" Blackarachnia opened her mouth to explain, "No matter, Elita-1, Strika is furious at you. That Dinobot said that it was you who let him in the car wash." Blackarachnia felt a pang of guilt.

"But I did let him in…" She admitted.

"Are you serious!?"

"I thought he might want to get dry…"

"He's a monster! He's already swallowed three `bots and nearly tore Hot Shot and Perceptor in half!" She frowned, not pleased at all. Blackarachnia felt guilty. Those poor `bots…it was all her fault…

"Found it!" Ratchet cried in triumph. "Here it is Elita-1!" He walked over with a piece of paper held proudly in his servos.

"We're busy, old-timer." Red Alert tried to send him off, but he didn't pay attention.

"You can use this!" He said, giving it to Blackarachnia. She stared at it blankly. On it was a single line; 'all purpose'. It looked like some sort of train ticket.

"You've got train tickets?" Red Alert asked, incredulous. "How'd you get a hold of them?"

"I've been savin' 'em fer four thousand stellar cycles." He informed, "Now listen carefully, Elita-1: The train stop you want is called 'Iacon'."

"Iacon?"

"That's where he lives. It's the sixth stop."

"Sixth stop, got it." She nodded.

"Be careful you don't miss it. It used to run both ways, but now it's a one-way ride." He paused, and cocked a viz scanner, apparently thinking deeply about this, "Ye still wanna go?"

"I have to go." She insisted.

"But what about the Dinobot?" Red Alert asked.

"I'll take care of that now…" She said. Then she walked back over to Optimus. He looked so cold. She leaned down and whispered into his audio receptors, "Optimus, I'll be back soon…Just hold on. Don't be a glitch and go offline, okay?"

"What's going on?" Red Alert asked, obviously confused.

"It's something ye wouldn't recognize…" Ratchet said with a cocky smile.

"Try me."

"It's called…love."

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That was FUN! XD BlackarachniaxOptimus fluff :D I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!